


Dried Flowers

by A_Murder_of_Pigeons



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky Barnes & Winter Soldier are Different Personalities, Character Study, Gen, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, using they as kinda plural here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:14:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22022380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Murder_of_Pigeons/pseuds/A_Murder_of_Pigeons
Summary: a short and sweet drabble on becoming new"Still, there were moments like these where they were not quite the Soldier, and not quite Barnes, but someone new. And, strangely, softly, new was something worth becoming."
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Dried Flowers

They couldn’t help but touch the rows of dried flowers as they walked by. There was shifting, brushing, a faint, herbal scent, a slow swaying back into place. The temporary effect of their passing, proof and not of their presence here.

More than sensory, there were added impressions of familiarity and something soothing.

 _It’s comforting_ Barnes added. _Like Ma used to have at home_.

They supposed that was true. The longer they were free of Hydra, the more layers seemed to unfold around experience. Flowers might once have been something crushed underfoot in the pursuit of a target. But with time, they could look at the world and see it. A flower could be touched gently or not at all, and there was the choice to know for themselves what it smelled like.

Temperance could be had without control. They could be delicate with something fragile instead of cautious with something dangerous. Care and feeling could rise, unbidden by any outside force and all the greater for its honesty.

 _Hey, that’s… kinda sweet_.

This gave the Solider pause. That was not something the Solider had ever been called. And it was hard to know if it was something the Soldier could claim- the Soldier had been alone until memories, and in turn Barnes, had started to rise from the dark. It was confusing to consolidate such different parts of themselves, to be one person instead of fragmented parts.

But all of the fragments were contained in one body, and so the Soldier became _they_. Still, there were moments like these where they were not quite the Soldier, and not quite Barnes, but someone new. And, strangely, softly, _new_ was something worth becoming.


End file.
